Collegiate Times

With Major League Baseball's playoffs in full swing, the Virginia Tech baseball team is having its own World Series this weekend -- a three-game, intra-squad match up that starts Friday and continues through Sunday.

The fall World Series has become an annual event for the baseball team, but head coach Pete Hughes looks at it as an opportunity to gauge the talent so far.

"It's another opportunity for us to evaluate and for our kids to play and compete. Any time you can come out and compete is an important day for me," Hughes said. "Just because we are wearing orange and maroon doesn't mean anything different."

The World Series is the first major event of the season for the team, following Summer League Baseball, in which 20 Hokies competed. Pitcher Rhett Ballard was able to compete in the Cape Cod Baseball League, one of the most distinguished summer leagues in the country.

The redshirt senior went 3-0 in 12 appearances for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox and compiled a 2.08 ERA in 17.1 innings pitched.

"The more summer league ball we play, the better we're going to get during the season," Ballard said.

Hughes echoed those statements and added more.

"Everybody in our program should be in summer league if they want to win in the ACC," Hughes said. "There is no doubt a lot of kids come back stronger, have better pitch recognition and their confidence is higher."

With recruitment during the summer, Hughes does not have time to attend the games, but keeps up with his players in other ways.

"With the Internet nowadays, I can get the box scores every night," Hughes said. "I can call a kid if he is playing great and make him feel good, or I can call a kid who is playing bad and see what is going on."

Perhaps no one was better in summer league than Anthony Sosnoskie, who was runner-up for his league's MVP award and was a mid-season all-star.

In 45 games played, Sosnoskie tallied 53 hits, 18 doubles, 7 home runs, 40 RBI and a staggering .368 batting average.

"I like using wooden bats, and I was lucky enough to square up on some balls and have a pretty good summer," Sosnoskie said.

As a sophomore, Sosnoskie put up big numbers offensively, and with the departure of Sean O'Brien, a player who led the Hokies in many offensive categories, will there be more pressure on the junior catcher?

"You can't play baseball with pressure," Sosnoskie said. "There will be plenty of pressure when we play North Carolina and Georgia Tech this season. I can't put that on myself."

The Hokies are a young team and are looking for new leaders to step up this weekend. Both Ballard and Sosnoskie are taking those roles in stride.

"I try to mentor the younger pitchers as much as possible, on the field or off," Ballard said.

When catching for the young pitchers, Sosnoskie said he will "preach throwing strikes, getting ahead, and put confidence in their mind, so when they face the big schools, they won't get nervous."

Hughes said he would like to see "young guys not play young."

"We got some freshmen here," Hughes said, "that we are going to lean on to win games this year."

The Hokies may be young, but they make up for it in talent and the leadership from Ballard and Sosnoskie. They have everything in place to be successful this season. The World Series will kick off the countdown to the opening game in February.  

The first World Series game is at 6 p.m., Friday at English Field .